


Blue

by thoughtsandtealeaves



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Colour soul mate AU, Cuddles, Fluff, For any Americans reading this, M/M, Secret Santa 2016, Soulmate AU, This has not been edited so there may be some small mistakes, This is so sappy I am so sorry, Yuri on holiday, color soul mate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:23:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9065734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thoughtsandtealeaves/pseuds/thoughtsandtealeaves
Summary: Katsuki Yuuri was never able to see colour, and was told that he would remain like this for the rest of his life. But when Victor Nikiforov shows up to coach him Yuuri starts noticing something strange about his coach's eyes...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lorellamoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorellamoon/gifts).



> This is for @fif-the-writer on tumblr.com as a part of the yurionholiday secret santa project. Happy holidays, and I hope you like your gift! Sorry it is a bit longer than it was supposed to be, I didn't want to cut it off in the middle. Please enjoy!

**Blue**

To Yuuri Katsuki the world had always been black and white. He had never realised that there was any other way to view the world until he arrived in kindergarten and was given colouring pages to complete. The teacher was surprised to see him paint the grass purple, the sky a vibrant red and the dog playing in the grass in a frankly alarming shade of orange. When she asked him why he chose those colours he had been surprised – they had seemed exactly the same to him as the ones he saw out of the window, after all. After this incident the teacher had called his parents and told them they might need to get Yuuri’s eyes tested.

 

The test taught them two things – one, that Yuuri’s eyes were bad enough to warrant him wearing glasses even at this age, and two, that he was completely colourblind. He was able to perceive differences in brightness, but any tests that involved colours were impossible for him to complete. The doctor explained that this was a very rare condition, but that it would definitely be manageable, especially since they discovered it at such a young age. He gave Yuuri’s parents a few pamphlets to read and a contact number for an organisation that specialised in colourblindness, reassured them once again that everything would be fine and sent them along home.

 

Despite the fact that they could now prepare for what was to come, his colourblindness did not make life very easy for Yuuri. In elementary school the teachers tried their best to make life easier for him, but many simple tasks proved impossible. In gym class he caught the wrong people in tag because he couldn’t distinguish the colours of the straps they were given to divide them into teams, in language classes he often wrote his answers on the board in the wrong colour chalk and he was frequently laughed at when playing outside for his mismatching clothes whenever his parents hadn’t had time to help him pick out something matching in the morning. His classmates thought he was weird and didn’t want to get involved with him, leading to Yuuri spending a lot of time on his own during play time and after class.

 

He had only one friend during this time – Yuuko, a girl two years older than him. He’d met her at a local park and they often played together, either outside or at the ice rink. As Yuuko was two years older Yuuri’s parents didn’t mind if she took him there, and the proprietors knew the kids very well and always kept an eye. When she found out about Yuuri’s colourblindness he was afraid she was going to tease him too, but she just shrugged it off and told Yuuri to ask her if he ever needed help identifying something. Yuuko’s friend Takeshi did tease Yuuri a little when he found out, but stopped when he made Yuuri cry and was scolded severely by Yuuko. The three of them often played together after that, and Yuuri was simply glad that he’d finally found people who’d take him as he was.

 

The first time he heard about soulmates was in middle school. He and Yuuko were sharing lunch on a bench outside the school. She was already in high school, he was in his final year of middle school, but as she had opted to stay at the same institute they were merely in different buildings these days.

 

“Yuuri, you can’t see any colour at all, right?” She asked, looking sideways at Yuuri to see how he would react. Yuuri’s shoulders tensed, as they always did when the subject of his vision was brought up, but as she’d merely sounded curious he answered anyway. “I can’t see any colour at all,” he confirmed in a soft voice. “Only lighter and darker shades of grey.”

 

“That is so exciting!” She exclaimed, and Yuuri looked up at her in shock. Yuuko’s eyes were twinkling with excitement, and he was quite sure she might have grabbed him by the hands if he hadn’t been holding a lunch box in his lap. “I just heard the most interesting story about people who can’t see colours. Want to hear it?”

 

Yuuri nodded tentatively, which was all the encouragement Yuuko needed. “An upperclassman at my club told me this story last weekend at camp,” she began. “She told us that a long, long time ago almost every human on earth used to have a soulmate – you know, the person you are destined to be with forever. These people were all like you – they could not see all colours, and some of them could only see grey until they met their soulmate. They would recognise each other because meeting each other would allow them to see colour for the first time, and being together would let them see colour forever.”

 

Though it was an interesting story, Yuuri was not at all convinced. “But if that really happened there should be a lot of people like me,” he pointed out. “And there are not, the doctor told my parents that. Total colourblindness affects less than 0.001% of everyone in the world.”

 

Yuuko rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t done with the story yet,” she said, giving Yuuri a stern look. “This was really long ago, when humans were still in a lot of danger from nature. Because some people were born being able to see colour while others couldn’t, the people who could see colour had a natural advantage. They could pick out poisonous plants and mushrooms with ease, saw dangerous animals coming from greater distance and a bunch of other things that helped them along. By the time civilisation was established the people with soulmates had almost disappeared. There have been stories of soulmates over the centuries, but they are few and far between, and so most people don’t believe in them anymore.”  
  
She grinned widely at Yuuri, her eyes shining with excitement. “I know it’s unlikely, but what if it’s true? What if some day you meet someone whose love can make you see all the colours in the world? Wouldn’t that be exciting?”

 

Yuuri shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think I will. The doctor says it can never be cured. It’s okay, I’m used to it. It’s a nice story though.” He added hastily when he saw the smile melt off her face like a snowflake in the bright afternoon sun.

 

It nearly broke his heart to see her face fall like that, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her why he didn’t believe her. After all he’d been in love with her for three years already, and his vision had not changed one bit.

 

He made it all the way into high school without ever telling Yuuko how he felt about her, and when she started going out with Takeshi in her final year he encouraged their relationship as best he could. In his heart he knew that they would be good for one another, but as he still had some feelings left for Yuuko it was hard for him to put his entire heart into it. Instead he spent more and more time on the ice and in Minako-sensei’s dance classes. He had become quite good by middle school already, but by the end of high school he had taken part in national competitions and been offered a chance to gain a spot in the senior national competition. He ended up not making the cut the first time, but he made such an impression that he was offered a scholarship that would allow him to build up his career in ice skating alongside his college education.

 

After discussing it with his parents Yuuri accepted the scholarship and ended up in Detroit. It was a good thing that he had always excelled in English, because he was sure he would have had a hard time keeping up with his classes otherwise. Part of the reason for this, of course, was always watching the ice skating on television. National and international competitions in which Japanese skaters took part were always voiced in Japanese, but to be able to follow his idol’s career he had often resorted to watching American channels, and more recently American and English websites dedicated to the sport. Years of painstakingly making his way through technical reports and translated interviews with Victor had evidently paid off, leaving him with more free time than expected to practice skating. Despite his hard work, however, he did not bring home any gold, and his final defeat at the grand prix finals left him feeling absolutely sure that he would never compete at the highest level again. He had failed himself, his coach, his teachers, his friends and the entirity of Japan.

 

His feelings of failure were amplified when Victor Nikiforov himself, a man Yuuri had admired since they were both children, offered to take a picture with him as all the competitors were finally heading home. Yuuri knew that Victor probably just felt bad for him. Surely someone as famous as Victor would not want to be seen on a picture with a failure like him – and besides, how could he face his idol in his current state? He’d tried to avoid the man at the banquet last night, and though his memory was a little hazy he was fairly sure he’d succeeded in that at least. No, Victor must only have noticed him because he’d watched Yuuri’s crushing defeat be played out on the ice, and he was offering to take a picture out of pity. So Yuuri turned around and walked away. It was one of the most painful things he had ever done, but it was for the best. He was sure his presence could only have bored Victor stiff anyway.

 

The last thing he had expected after brushing Victor off like that was that though would meet ever again – in fact, Yuuri was not sure if he even wanted to return to professional skating anymore. He finished college in Detroit, but his heart wasn’t in the sport anymore, and when he finished his final thesis he said goodbye to Celestino and returned to Japan to stay with his parents for a while.

 

The peace he had hoped to find there lasted exactly one day.

 

He had not expected Yuuko’s kids to film him while he was skating, nor had he expected the video to end up getting over a million views on youtube. And when he woke up the next day and ended up finding Victor Nikiforov himself in the onsen he was almost 100% sure he’d hit his head in the rink and was stuck in a state of delirium. How could Victor Nikiforov be here in his parental home? How could Victor say so calmly that he was interested in Yuuri and wanted to be his coach? Surely that was something that only happened in fairy tales, if fairy tales were ever written about twenty-three year old ice skaters. No, Yuuri was quite sure that it was a mistake, and that Victor too would soon realise this and go back home to Russia.

 

The fact that Victor was far from getting bored with him did not sink in until long after Victor had arrived at yuutopia. In fact, it took Yuuri until the contest with Yurio to find his resolve, and it was not until he saw Victor’s expression finsihed his programme that he realised it was not just him who was having a good time. It felt good to spend his days training again, and it felt even better to have his hard work rewarded with applause from a crowd, but the best of all was that smile on Victor’s face. They made eye-contact despite the fact that Yuuri was not wearing his glasses, and for a moment something seemed to change about Victor’s face. For a moment his eyes had seemed different, brighter than usual perhaps, but when he blinked it was gone again. It must have been his imagination, Yuuri thought, or perhaps he was seeing spots because of the excertion, that was not entirely uncommon. When Yuuri left the rink to meet Victor and hear his criticism Victor looked exactly as he always did, and the scolding he received for flubbing some of his moves drove the short moment of other-ness straight out of his mind.

 

After this training with Victor became much easier for Yuuri, as he had finally accepted that Victor was here only because he wanted to be. Though he still had a bit of trouble with Victor’s lack of reservation when it came to physical contact (both on and off the ice), he found himself slowly starting to relax around his coach. The jumps and spins came easier to him, and more and more often Victor would praise his efforts after practice. Yuuri found himself living for those words of praise, always trying to surpass himself in an effort to surprise Victor. He rarely succeeded in this, of course, but he knew that if he kept this up he might do so again one day, and this knowledge fueled him on.

 

They spent almost every waking hour together these days, and though Yuuri still needed some time to himself every now and then he noticed he was starting to look forward to seeing Victor in the morning and feeling a pang of sadness whenever his coach retired early for the night. His sister caught him staring after Victor a few times and had begun teasing him about reliving his childhood crush, causing Yuuri to blush hard and flee every time she did this.

 

The strange thing that had happened to him on the ice had started happenening more often these days. Every now and then when he was looking at Victor Yuuri noticed that his vision would blur, and something would seem different for a second before returning to normal. He had gone to see a doctor about it, but the man was unable to help him find a cause. He’d checked Yuuri’s eyes most thoroughly, but apart from the fact that Yuuri’s prescription needed an update there seemed to be absolutely nothing wrong with his eyes. Well, nothing more than usual, at least, Yuuri reflected as he jogged home from the appointment at the hospital. The world was as usual, different shades of grey.

 

When he got home his mother informed him that Victor was in the onsen and had asked her to ask Yuuri to join him there. As he had no other plans anyway Yuuri was quick to jump on this plan – having a soak after that morning’s training and this afternoon’s appointment would be very nice.

 

He entered the dressing room, took off his clothes and had a quick wash at the showers indoors. Victor was nowhere to be seen, but that was not a great surprise. The Russian seemed to prefer the outside bath, and Yuuri could certainly see why. Unless the weather was truly foul nothing beat a soak in the outside air, with the clouds overhead by day and the starts overhead by night. The onsen was one of his favourite places on earth, and having Victor there too just made it that much better.

 

Victor was already in the water when Yuuri came out, and he raised his hand in greeting. Yuuri returned his greeting and slipped into the water on the opposite side of the bath. His vision was somewhat hazy, as he wasn’t wearing his glasses and there was steam rising from the water, but as he looked at Victor’s face he swore he could see that strange thing happening again. This time it didn’t go away after he blinked, though, and Yuuri found himself staring at Victor’s face. Victor raised an eyebrow and cocked his head, and Yuuri realised what he was doing and blushed. “Sorry,” he exclaimed, averting his gaze quickly and trying to ignore how red he must be getting. “I was just zoning out, I wasn’t-”

 

He broke off mid-sentence and stayed silent for a moment. The sky. Something was different about the sky too. It was not the same as it usually was. Usually the clear sky would be somewhat lighter than rain clouds, but today it was different. Realisation came so suddenly it was like someone had dumped out a bucket of ice water over his head. Blue. The sky was blue, everyone had always told him that. Victor’s eyes were also blue, he’d read about that in magazines.

 

He was seeing the colour blue.

 

For a moment he was completely dumbstruck, unable to do anything but stare at the sky in complete awe. He must have looked very stupid with his mouth half open and his eyes wide, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Somehow he was seeing colour, and even though it was just one single hue it was more amazing than he could ever have imagined.

 

A hand passed into his vision and he blinked, and suddenly the sky was grey again. Yuuri jolted backwards, away from Victor who had apparently approached him while he was zoning out and had reached out a hand to touch Yuuri’s face. He looked concerned. “Are you okay, Yuuri?” He asked. “Did something happen at the hospital?” Yuuri reached up to his face and found, to his astonishment, that his cheeks were wet with tears. “I’m fine,” he managed, dropping his hand into the water. “Got something in my eye. I’ll go wash it out inside.” And before Victor could say anything else Yuuri had bolted, fleeing back to the safety of the house.

 

He did not stop until he was back in his room with the door locked behind him. All this time thoughts were buzzing through his head like a storm of angry bees. Colour. He’d seen colour, for real this time. It had only been for a moment, but he had definitely seen it. What on earth was that all about? Hadn’t the doctor said his colourblindness could never be cured, that his body simply wasn’t made for viewing colours? How could this thing have happened?

 

It took him a while to calm down enough to think rationally. The impossible had just become possible, and he had to figure out how that was possible. He considered calling his doctor, but decided against it. It had only been a moment, after all, and he could no longer prove that it had happened, so he would just be dismissed. He also considered telling his parents, but they were unlikely to believe him either. Phitchitt was probably training right now, so he would not be free.

 

It came to him in a flash. Yuuko. He should ask Yuuko, she’d know what to do. He sent her a text asking her to come see him by the sea, then legged it down the hall, hoping he could avoid Victor. He needed to figure out what was going on before he could face his coach again. He practically sprinted all the way down to the beach, and to his great luck Yuuko soon joined him there, looking thoroughly confused and more than a little worried.

 

“Yuuri, what’s wrong?” She asked, but he couldn’t answer her – hearing her ask about him with such concern was like flipping a switch, and the only thing he could do was sob out all his pent up confusion and emotion about what had just happened. It took him a minute to regain his breath, a minute during which Yuuko was looking at him with clearly mounting anxiety. She knew better than to force it out of him, though, so she waited until he stopped crying and then offered him a handkerchief. He accepted it gratefully and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Yuuko, I saw colour,” he blurted out when he felt that he could trust his voice again. “I saw blue. It was only for a moment, but I’m completely sure of it.”

 

Yuuko’s eyes grew wide as plates. “But how?” She asked, looking thoroughly bewildered. “I remember you telling me it could never be cured, so how could you have seen blue? And how do you know which colour it was you saw anyway, if you’ve never seen it before?”

 

These were all good questions, Yuuri thought, though he couldn’t answer all of them. “I have no idea how I saw it,” he said. “I was in the onsen with Victor and we made eye contact, and all of a sudden I could see the colour of his eyes. I couldn’t help it, I just kept looking at them - he has the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen. And then he clocked me for staring so I looked away and I saw the sky and it was so bright, Yuuko, I can’t believe I’ve gone all my life without knowing how beautiful the sky is.”

 

That last sentence ran so long that Yuuri almost lost his breath again, so he paused to control his breathing. Yuuko said nothing, just stared at his face as though she was just as shocked as he was. She seemed as though she thinking hard, and when she opened her mouth she sounded a bit distant, as though she had trouble believing what she was saying herself. “Yuuri,” she said, her eyes focused intently on his. “Do you remember that one time when we were in school and we talked about soulmates? What if this is it? What if that was true and you are actually one of those people? ”

 

It took Yuuri a moment, then realisation struck him like a lightning bolt. His eyes widened and he was sure he could feel heat rising to his cheeks. “It can’t be anything like that,” he said hastily, waving his hands as if attempting to wave away Yuuko’s words. “That kind of thing only happens in fairy tales, everyone knows that.”

 

“There is no other explanation though!” Yuuko insisted. “You said you noticed it when you were looking at Victor’s eyes, didn’t you? If that isn’t a clear message that he is your soulmate I can’t think what is. Come on, Yuuri, you’ve got to admit it’s too much of a coincidence.”

 

Certainly she was right, it really was too much of a coincidence. Thinking back, Yuuri realised that he had only noticed the ‘strange’ thing when looking at Victor’s face so far – the strange thing he now knew had been the colour blue seeping into his vision. But if that were true that meant that Victor…

 

“He can’t be my soulmate,” he said out loud, his cheeks and the tips of his ears properly burning with heat now. “If that were the case I should have seen colour the moment I met him, right? So how come it’s only starting now?”

 

“Maybe the story I heard was wrong,” Yuuko retorted. “Maybe it takes a while for it to start, or maybe there are prerequisites. If it was true then knowledge about this was lost a long time ago, so for all we know what I heard was only an approximation of the truth.” Suddenly she grabbed Yuuri by the hands, a huge grin on her face. “Yuuri, I’m so happy for you!”

 

The rest of the conversation went by in a blur for Yuuri – his mind was spinning, and he couldn’t even remember how he had managed to get home afterward. All he knew was that it was already dark by the time he arrived. He hung up his coat and kicked his shoes off by the door, then looked up to find Victor standing there, wearing one of the onsen’s yukatas and looking very concerned. “Yuuri, are you really alright?” He asked, his eyebrows puckering into a frown. “You seemed very distressed before. If something happened to you at the hospital you really should tell me, you know? As your coach it is my job to worry about your health.”

 

For a moment Yuuri was lost for words. What was he supposed to tell Victor? ‘Hey Victor, I just figured out you’re my soulmate because you made me see colour for the first time in my life. Please never leave my side’? No, that sounded creepy even inside his head. He found his eyes straying back to Victor’s face, to those amazing eyes. They were blue again, Yuuri noted, not light grey as they were before, and again he was unable to take his eyes off them. “Your eyes are so beautiful,” he blurted out, then realised what he’d said and felt heat once again creeping up his neck and up towards his cheeks. To his surprise he saw Victor’s cheeks grow slightly darker too – but why on earth would such a comment make him blush? Surely he heard this all the time. After the first moment of surprise, however, Victor’s frown deepened. “If you don’t want to tell me you could just say so,” he said calmly, but his stance betrayed that he felt hurt.

 

Yuuri immediately felt guilty – Victor couldn’t know what mind-blowing thing had just happened to him, after all. He tore his gaze away from Victor’s eyes as he crossed the few steps between them and enveloped his coach in a hug. Victor had been turning away, making to walk away, so Yuuri’s arms around his middle seemed to have caught him by surprise. “I’m sorry,” Yuuri muttered against the fabric of the yukata. “There was nothing wrong with me, the doctor just told me to get new glasses. I’m just a bit out of it today, that’s all.” He could feel the warmth of Victor’s back on his cheek. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said, squeezing his arms around Victor just a little bit tighter. “Thank you for being my coach.”

 

For a moment it seemed as though Victor too had been rendered speechless. Then he reached down and gently pulled Yuuri’s arms away from his waist so he could turn around. This time it was Yuuri’s turn to be surprised as Victor enveloped him in a gentle hug – much gentler than his usual bone-crushing variety. “I’m glad I’m here too,” he said, his breath ghosting over the exposed skin at Yuuri’s neck. “There is no place in the world I’d rather be than by your side, Yuuri.”

 

There was absolutely no mistaking the feeling that Yuuri felt stirring in his stomach this time. He’d tried to deny it for weeks, even months already by this point, but he was done pretending. He had fallen hard for Victor, that was the beginning and the end of it. “Victor, I...”

 

They were interrupted by Yuuri’s sister coming down the hall and letting out a loud squeal. Yuuri and Victor jumped apart as if someone had slapped them both, and subsequently endured her teasing all the way during dinner. Despite how curious he was Yuuri avoided meeting Victor’s eye, too scared to be caught staring again, but as he was finishing dinner he made up his mind. Tonight he would go confess his feelings to Victor and admit everything that had happened today.

 

He could feel his nerves build up as he went through his usual evening routine of taking a shower and brushing his teeth. When he was done he sat down on his bed in his pyjamas, his heart thundering in his chest as though he had just completed a full programme on the ice. But if he didn’t go for it now he was never going to do it, so he gathered up his courage and tiptoed out of his room. Victor’s light was already off, but Yuuri knew that Victor often listened to music before he actually went to sleep, so there was a chance that he’d still be awake. He knocked on the door, then slid it open and shut it again behind him.

 

Victor was indeed still awake, and he reached over to switch on the light as Yuuri entered the room. In a move so bold he never would have dreamed of making it Yuuri stopped him, his own hand over Victor’s in the dark. “Don’t,” he said. “I’m going to lose my nerve.”

 

Victor smiled – Yuuri could see it faintly by the tiny bit of moonlight making its way into the room through a small gap in the curtains. “Then I’d better not,” he said, slowly retreating his hand and taking Yuuri’s with it. “What can I do for you at this time of night, Yuuri?”

 

Yuuri swallowed, his eyes fixed on Victor’s face. The man’s eyes seemed grey now, but that was because of the low lighting, he was sure of it this time. “There was something I was trying to tell you before,” he confessed, sitting down on the bed next to Victor. He had not let go of Victor’s hand, and Victor showed no signs of wanting him to let go, so he squeezed Victor’s fingers gently as he searched for the right words. “Before we were interrupted, that is.”

 

“And what was that?” Victor asked, sounding genuinely curious. “If it’s about our new training routine, we can change it if you think it is too heavy, I just thought -”

 

He couldn’t finish his sentence because Yuuri, in a show of bravery that surprised even himself, had leaned forward and kissed Victor on the cheek. It was not a long kiss, and he was sure his face was boiling when he leaned back, but it seemed that at least this time he was not the only one at a loss for words. Victor sat frozen for a moment, then slowly raised his free hand up to his cheek where Yuuri had kissed him. Yuuri smiled. “That about summarises it,” he said dryly, doing his best to sound airy even though his stomach was clenched with nerves. “But I could tell you the details later if you like.”

 

He had no idea where he got the confidence from to say that, but it seemed that Victor didn’t mind. When Yuuri dared look at his face again he saw that Victor had actual tears in his eyes, and though they didn’t fall he found himself thinking that this was definitely a first. “Yuuri,” he breathed, then leaned in and kissed Yuuri on the lips. It was a chase kiss, but its effect on Yuuri was profound. His lips were tingling, and every nerve in his body seemed to be on fire. The hand Victor was holding seemed to be glowing too, and Yuuri squeezed Victor’s hand again. This was good. Why on earth had it taken him so long to realise that this was what he wanted?

 

Victor broke away from him again, and Yuuri opened his eyes – when had he even closed them? He couldn’t tell anymore – to stare at Victor’s face. For a moment words failed him completely. Despite the dimness of the room he could see nuances in Victor’s face that had not been there before, and though they faded again when he blinked he knew what they must have been now. Colours. Victor was making him see colours.

 

“Can I stay?” He asked, gesturing towards the rest of the bed. Victor nodded, seemingly still lost for words, and Yuuri slipped under the blankets beside him. The bed was warm and the pillow smelled like Victor’s cologne. Victor had been leaning up against the headboard, but he wriggled back down, laying his head down next to Yuuri’s on his pillow. Their faces were impossibly close, their noses almost touching, their breath mingling in the air between them. They stared at each other’s faces for a while in the dark, then Yuuri snuggled closer, burying his face in Victor’s neck. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you,” he said quietly. “But I think I’ve been in love with you all this time.”

 

Victor stayed quiet, and for a moment Yuuri thought he might have fallen asleep. But then he spoke, and Yuuri could feel Victor’s throat vibrating against his cheek. “I hoped that was what it was,” he said, his voice also very quiet. “But I thought I misread the signs. You are not the easiest man to read, you know.”

 

“I know,” Yuuri admitted, somehow less scared to speak now that his feelings were out in the open. “I can’t even read myself, if that helps a little. And I knew that you were flirting, but I thought it was impossible that you actually meant it.” Victor let out an indignant huff. Yuuri chuckled. “Well, you are always fliring with people at competitions,” he defended. “It wasn’t that weird to be confused.”

 

“That is different,” Victor replied, draping one arm over Yuuri’s back. “You’re different. I hope I’ve made that clear by now.”

 

“Definitely,” Yuuri reassured him.

  
They lay together in silence for a moment – nothing but their quiet breathing and the occasional snore from Makkachin on the couch to break the silence. Yuuri wondered if he should leave it at this, but somehow he felt that he couldn’t back down now. Now that he had come this far he should actually complete the story.

 

“Victor, do you remember me telling you that I am colourblind?” He asked, not moving from his comfortable position.

 

“Mm-hmm,” came Victor’s hummed confirmation. “I remember. I was so surprised, you always looked immaculate on the ice. I was disappointed to hear that was all the work of a stylist and 0% personal input.”

 

“Shut up,” Yuuri said, lifting his hand to swat lightly at Victor’s shoulder. “I’m being serious here. I’m not sure how to put this, but… I think I saw colour today. And I think it is because of you.” And he told Victor the entire story as Yuuko had told it to him all those years ago, stuttering every now and then as his nerves got to him. Victor did not interrupt him once as he spoke, and he was silent for a long time again afterward. For a moment Yuuri was scared he was about to be told off, but when Victor spoke again his voice sounded very faint. “That is amazing,” he said, pulling back a little so he could look at Yuuri’s face. Victor was smiling so widely that Yuuri thought his face might split in two, but he only had a moment to admire the look before he was pulled into one of Victor’s signature bone-crushing hugs. “That is amazing, Yuuri. I am so happy for you.”

 

Most people would be scared off by words like ‘fate’ and ‘soulmates’, but Victor seemed to be taking it all in stride. “Don’t you think it is strange?” Yuuri asked when Victor had let go of him again. “I already think it sounds implausible, and I saw it with my own eyes.”

 

“I don’t think it is strange in the slightest.” Victor chuckled. “I think it is my turn to confess to a secret. I was never fully colourblind like you, but until last year I could not distinguish between red and green.”

 

Yuuri’s eyebrows shot up. “What? You never told me that!” And no magazine had ever mentioned it either, he thought bitterly, otherwise he would definitely have known about it. He had memorised every little fact he could about Victor when he was younger, and something like his idol being colourblind would definitely have stuck to his memory.

 

Victor chuckled again. “That is because it was not necessary,” he said. “Since I met you I have gained the ability to distinguist between them. Yurio has the most amazingly green eyes, you should check them out next time we meet him.”

 

“He has green eyes? Wait, that is beside the point. You mean it happened to you too?” Yuuri had accidentally raised his voice a little, but he managed to return it to an acceptable volume again. “Are you serious?”

 

“Yes.” Victor’s white teeth were quite visible now in the dark. “You brought colour to my life, Yuuri. I’m happy to be able to do the same for you.”

 

Fin

**Author's Note:**

> There you go, I hope this story was what you wanted <3 Again, I wish you happy holidays and a bright and lucky new year!
> 
> So I'd like to explain why I made the choice to write a universe in which not everyone has a soulmate, and why I wrote it the way I did. When I received the request to write a colour soul mate AU I had no idea what that was and had to ask around and look into it online. I started thinking about how to build up this world, and it struck me that if everyone in the world started out as colour blind the world would be radically different from what we are used to. I imagine quite a lot of people would never get to meet their soulmate, so a lot of things, from the colours of clothes (fashion would be very different) and decorations to things one does in school (e.g. colouring) to expressions in language (e.g. going red, feeling blue) would probably be very different. 
> 
> I wasn't allowed to write too many words and I wanted to stick as close to canon as possible, so I decided that I wanted to use real-world principles of colour blindness as a base for this AU instead of making everyone colour blind until they meet their soulmate, because it would allow me to keep world building to a minimum and focus on Yuuri's story instead.
> 
> Being completely colourblind (achromatopsia) is very rare, but more mild forms are somewhat more common - apparently around one out of every eight people with XY chromosomes has some form of colour blindness. This is because hereditary colour blindness is inherited via the X-chromosome. Although it is generally recessive when compared to the regular genes for seeing colour, if one has only one X-chromosome there will be no dominant genes to trump it and one will end up colour blind. The most common form of colour blindness is red/green colour blindness (which Victor used to have). 
> 
> Basing the AU off these principles allowed me to have a world in which seeing colour was common but soulmates still existed, albeit only in fairy tales and whispered stories. Also it meant that it would not be immediately apparent that they were soulmates, which I considered to be more interesting than 'oh hey I can see something new wow guess I must have met my soulmate'. I wanted at least one of them to be confused about this and unsure about what was going on, because that fits much better with their canon relationship dynamics. 
> 
> If you want to grab my attention or find out more about me I suggest @thoughtsandtealeaves on tumblr. There is some NSFW art on there, but it should be appropriately tagged. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this story and my comments on it. I hope you have a lovely day ^^
> 
> p.s. please excuse me if this explanation uses words that are not common. I'm not a native speaker of English, and the classes in which all this was explained to me were not in English. Feel free to let me know if I messed up ^^


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